Troubled Teens Resources

When you look at the numbers of random public shootings carried out by troubled teens in the past few years, you have to wonder what’s going on. Is it drugs? Is it nutrition? Is it really a chemical imbalance of some kind? Is it social stress?

February 12 of 2007, hit too close to home for me. That was the night that an 18 year old troubled teen went on a shooting rampage in the Trolley Square Mall of Salt Lake City, Utah.  When I turned on the news and heard the coverage I think my heart stopped for a second because I knew my husband was suppose to be at that mall that evening. Within seconds of the news footage I received a phone call from him. He had apparently left within minutes before the shooting. When I looked at the timeline I realized how truly lucky we were. Earlier that day he was planning on taking our 6 year old with him to the mall but at the last minute decided not to. Taking kids always makes things twice as long and he just wasn’t in the mood for a longer trip.  I am thankful for that because if he had taken our son that night, they would have still been at the mall during the time of the shooting. They could have been shot!  Even if my child had not become a victim of the shooting, imagine the mental trauma he would have to deal with seeing people get shot or simply knowing he was in the mall when something that horrific happened. He’d be scared to go anywhere! 

If you know of any troubled teens, regardless of the kind of trouble, don’t ignore it, get them some help before something like this happens.